Antonio DiPietro was born in Agnone, Italy on December 28, 1901. His mother, Maria Nicola Longo, died around 1907. His father, Martino, came back from America and married Angelamaria Petruolo and the two of them joined him in Denver in 1909.

When Angelamaria died in Utah, his siters were sent to St. Ann's Orphanage. Tony aggreed to made his communion there as a condition of Cecilia getting
in St. Ann's early. He stayed there three months then went back home with
his dad.

He couldn't get along with
his father any more so he ran away at the age of 15 or 16. He worked his
way across the U.S. He had a tough time getting his citizenship papers
because they had lost their passports and his dad didn't remember the
name of the ship they came on [the shipping company had gone out of business years ago].

"In 1944 I went to work in a war plant so the government created
a date of entry for us." - Tony

He finally ended up in Chicago
Heights, Ill. and went to work at a printing company as a pressman and
then as a machinist for General Electric. He married Katheryn Rodenchmit in
1937 at Winnetka, Illinois. They had no children.

He then moved to Mountain Home,
Arkansas in 1968 when he retired. Katheryn died in 1980.

Tony was an avid
bowler until a year before his death. He died on June 10, 1997 at the
age of 95 at the Baxter County Regional Hospital.